You guys, I am thrilled to share this project with you! It has been an open tab in my head for so long, and it is finally starting to come together!

We built our house in 2020. That’s right, just a couple of weeks after lockdowns, we signed for our construction loan. What felt like a really bad time to begin this project ended up being the biggest blessing. Our build required more time on site than we realized, and since Austin was working from home during that time, he was able to present when needed. I am so very thankful for that, since we normally have very busy lives.

After the build, Austin was, understandably, not open to doing projects around the house. But four years later, I’m glad to report that we have started our first, major indoor project!

Our downstairs was designed so that we can seat 20 people on a dime. If you’ve read this post, you’ll see that we had 27 seated in this space for a Friendsgiving. Being an open space, much advice was given about our dining room. I am not opposed to color drenching, wallpaper, etc., but it’s surprising how many people are! So, we started with accent walls in Inchyra Blue by Farrow & Ball. And while I love this color (also used in our upstairs guest bath), I realized our home is a Spring. You know, like the color wheels you get when you go for a color analysis. I love bright and light and cheerful. Blues, greens, and pinks.

I have always loved the chinoiserie murals of Gracie and Degournay, but they are woefully out of budget. Enter the Vining Beauty Mural from Anthropologie. I saw this shared on The Broke Brooke’s instagram and fell in love with both the print and the price. And surprisingly, after showing Austin probably 100 options for wallpaper, he agreed on this one. I’m sorry, who are you? Time to get this off the ground before he changes his mind!

We had to have our flooring replaced last week, as it started to buckle with no explanation as to why. Johnson City did not honor our warranty, so I cannot recommend their products. I can, however, recommend Gold Star Carpet One for honoring the warranty and installing the new flooring. We are so grateful to them! Our new floors are Coretec Antique Oak and we cannot love them more. Changing out the wide plank for a smaller plank makes the house feel more timeless, and I love the flush planks instead of the bevels.

Since we had to move everything out, it made sense to go ahead and start skim coating and framing things out. I decided to frame out around our windows in an attempt to stop the damage caused by our Heeler, Finn, parkouring off the walls when he gets the zoomies. I had the idea in my head, but struggled to find a photo. This was the closest I could find. Imagine a much less detailed version of this in a shaker style.

My very favorite home design tool is Planner5d. This 3D mockup tool helped me so much during our build to visualize the rooms, furniture choices, paint colors, etc. It is truly a life saver! Here is a mockup of the dining room windows trimmed out.

Now to the pretty stuff! As always, I start off making a mock up of the design. I usually use Microsoft Word, but this time I used Canva. Like I said earlier, blue and green is my favorite combination. The green background of the mural plays so nicely with the blue on our kitchen island, and doors in the living room. I have pillows and upholstered barstools in the gingham fabric. I am still debating painting the faux bamboo china cabinet, what do you think? And while chevron is so 2010, I feel like this version I’m considering for the dining chairs feels so fresh!

Similar Dining Table | Rug | Demilune Cabinet | Curtains | Chevron Fabric | Pink Fabric | Trim | Lamp | Chandelier | Bar Stools | Dining Chairs | Gingham Fabric | Mirror

We started skim coating the walls this week, and got the lumber to frame out the windows yesterday. I can’t wait to see how this turns out!

xo, Amanda